Movie Review Roundup

Well, I warned you that blogging more often would lead to somewhat more mundane topics, at least until the baby is here.  At the moment, that means talking about movies.  D hasn't felt up to spending more than a few hours out and about, though we might try to get to Del Mar next week for horse racing.  We have had time to make it to the movie theater and see some recent releases, plus I've been renting $1 movies from our local Redbox.

Though I could probably write an entire post about each, here are some quick thoughts on a few:

• Transformers 2 - This is just as terrible as everybody said it was.  The action is impressive (and constant), but the story is pointless and overlong.  In addition, the depiction of a pair of characters is racist enough to be offensive.  I didn't really like the first Transformers movie, and this one only went downhill.
• The Hangover - If you have a sense of humor and a at least a medium tolerance for lewdness, go see this movie.  It's the only recent film I've seen twice (once alone and once with family), and I still laughed aloud the second time.  Great characters, fun premise, and a plot that manages to be utterly ridiculous yet very realistic at the same time.  Highly recommended, though if you have only a medium tolerance for lewdness, you might want to cover your eyes during the credits.
• Bruno - Unfortunately, I think Sasha Baron Cohen decided that his success with Borat was due to his pushing at the boundaries of decency, rather than the social commentary within his interviews and interactions.  Bruno, aside from feeling like a bunch of disjointed skits haphazardly thrown together, also focuses less on the people he meets along the way.  Its focus on the character of Bruno himself (especially his nether regions) makes it much less interesting.  It also requires an exceptionally high tolerance for male full frontal nudity.  Not recommended, even for Borat fans.
• (500) Days of Summer - This movie was quite a gem.  We saw it almost a month ago at a sneak preview, and I've been talking it up ever since.  It was fun, charming, and very unique.  As the voiceover says, "This is not a love story."  But it is a story about love, and it's very well put-together.  The storytelling is unconventional and quirky, jumping around in time, throwing in a musical number, inserting the characters into an overdramatic French film, and even showing an entire scene using a split-screen view of two possible outcomes.  Check it out.
• The Hurt Locker - Another lesser-known movie, this time about a military bomb squad in Iraq.  They cranked the realism up to 11 on this one, and it makes the long, drawn-out disposal scenes incredibly intense.  Unlike the slow, hesitant red-wire/blue-wire scenes in most big-budget thrillers, the Hurt Locker's main character gets in there, snips out the power source or trigger mechanism, and tosses the components to the ground.  This one is worth seeing for the gritty realism alone.  Plus, there are cool explosions.   :)
• The Proposal - I like Ryan Reynolds and I was hoping this would be a great movie.  It wasn't great, but it was entertaining enough for matinee prices.  The setting was unique....Sitka, Alaska (though it was filmed in Massachusetts)....it made for some original humor and plot points involving the local customs (seaplanes, boats, wildlife, etc).  Betty White's character had good potential, but she was trying a little too hard.  If I were Ryan Reynolds's character, I would have gone with Malin Akerman, who played his high school sweetheart.
• The Ugly Truth - Another one where I was hoping for a lot, but was disappointed.  In the first few scenes, Katherine Heigl's character proved herself to be organized, intelligent, and quick-thinking.  She then spent the rest of the movie falling for stupid cliches like "repeat everything the person whispers to you in your ear, even when it's obvious they're having a conversation with someone else."  It was irritating and hard to believe.  Given a choice between the two, I'd have to go with The Proposal.
• Harry Potter 6 - I could have written out the whole "Half-Blood Prince" part, but this movie felt a bit like filler leading up to the last two.  I enjoyed every scene, and I love where they've gone with both the characters and the tone of the series, but it felt like they didn't cover enough.  They need more scenes that take up less time.  Still, if you've seen the rest, you can't miss it.
• Funny People - I was really looking forward to this movie, until I read an article that said the characters were (purposefully) unlikeable and that there was very little comedy.  So when we saw it, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was quite funny.  It felt like Judd Apatow had a hard time deciding on an ending, but I was satisfied with the way it turned out, and entertained along the way.
• Star Trek - I grew up on Star Trek: The Next Generation and I'm a huge fan of Lost/Alias, so I was interested to see what would happen when the Star Trek universe met J.J. Abrams.  I was not disappointed, I don't mind the liberties that were taken with the space-time continuum, and I love all the "new" characters.  This one is recommended not just for Star Trek fans, but for anyone that can appreciate a character-driven sci-fi movie.
• Year One - This one is pretty much exactly what it looks like in the preview.  It doesn't take itself seriously, so it can mix-and-match historical references and accents, while still focusing on the two main characters.  It's essentially a "buddy comedy," and there are some very funny lines, mostly from Michael Cera.  I can't call it a great movie, but it's worth a rental.
• Land of the Lost - Wow.  It had a lot of potential, but almost all of the funny parts were shown during the preview.  When the best part of the movie is a recurring joke about Matt Lauer, you know you've got problems.  Perhaps I was taking it too seriously, but Land of the Lost didn't do it for me.
• Terminator Salvation - It's been a long time since I saw it, so I'm having trouble even remembering details.  Oh wait....I just remembered a huge, naked, computer-generated version of our governor....now I wish I could forget.  This movie kept my attention at the time, but apparently it wasn't that memorable.
• Wolverine - One of the things I liked about the X-Men comics/movies/shows is that each of the characters needs the others, because they each only have one very specific power.  In Wolverine, they put together a supergroup of characters, but any one of them could do the entire job by themselves.  It felt partly like overkill, and partly like the studio was fishing for which character could be spun off into a new movie.  In the end, this movie also kept my interest and is definitely worth a rental (if you have a big screen).
• My Life in Ruins - D and I were good Greeks and went out to see this movie during opening weekend.  I like Nia Vardalos, but it was very obvious that she didn't write this one.  The photography was also disappointing....though I liked seeing tourist sites in Greece that I've been to, the film didn't do them justice in capturing their majesty.  If you get bored, rent this so Nia can do well enough to make a sequel to My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but don't expect too much.
• Away We Go - I love both of the actors in this movie, and the story was poignant and well-written.  Each of the supporting characters managed to convey personality and depth in their few minutes on-screen, and each of the visits - though separated by time and location - were woven together into a great overarching story.  Last year D and I had the same conversation as the main characters - that and D's state of pregnancy made it very easy to relate to their situation.

Winners: The Hangover, Away We Go, (500) Days of Summer
Losers: Land of the Lost, My Life in Ruins, Bruno

Each of my comments links to the Rotten Tomatoes entry to get a synopsis and review roundup.  I just wanted to throw in a personal take.  As I said, we've been seeing a lot of movies, so I hope this isn't overwhelming.  Before this summer, I hadn't been in a theater in a while....I'm making up for lost time.